Brain Foundations: Promoting the Cognitive Development of Your Baby
Cognitive development is region of development that experiences incredible growth and change during infancy. Children during this stage learn and absorb at a rate that far surpasses the capacity of individuals of older ages. During infancy, children fall under the developmental stage dubbed by psychologist Jean Piaget as the sensorimotor stage. This stage is characterized by cognitive function that literally exists in action through the examination and manipulation of concrete objects; because babies start from scratch with no mental experiences or internalized processes, their cognitive skills are external and develop through action. How can you maximize the chances that junior will be a brainiac like his mom? These simple tips can help!
- Provide your child with toys of an educational and interactive nature
Toys that are made with vibrant colors and patterns, blocks, books, and other interactive forms of entertainment both keep them amused and stimulate their cognitive development by allowing them to explore their world through touch and play
- Read to your baby
Although babies initially are not able to understand the verbal messages communicated through reading, spending time with you and a book allows young children to respond to your tone of voice and bond with you. Furthermore, reading to children as a regular component of care for them is associated with literacy competency later in life, as well as with building a pattern of future reading enjoyment. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you begin to read to your child on a daily once he reaches 6 months of age!
- Limit TV exposure, and ensure that programs watched are educational in nature
It is well established in the research community that babies learn best from interaction and communication. As such, it is recommended that parents limit consumption of television and other media goods for their young infants – even educational media is no substitute for actual interaction; indeed, to a child receiving no other stimulation, it is nothing but “meaningless noise.” However, educational programs can be incorporated into baby's regular regimen of play and reading! Baby Einstein, Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues, and other classics are of the caliber to promote cognitive development- Use Infant Directed Speech
Infant
directed speech is speech by the parent to the child that is characterized by
short, simple sentences spoken in an elevated pitch with exaggerated intonation.
Topics of such speech generally focus on concrete objects, which allows for
infants in the very concrete sensorimotor stage to understand. As children get
older, such as towards the end of their first year, sentences spoken through
this mode of communication tend to become longer and more complex to reflect
the child’s development and increased understanding. Although there has been
some controversy regarded the benefit of infant directed speech, recent
research has suggested that it forms a critical aspect of development in that
babies are particularly receptive to it – the exaggerated tone and elevated
pitch allows them to become accustomed to the intonations and other aspects
necessary to form the foundation of language. Indeed, studies have shown that
babies who are exposed to a great deal of infant directed speech in infancy
might learn to speak sooner and demonstrate greater linguistic competence later
in life
- Exercise Joint Attention
Joint attention is a mode of parent-child interaction that is similar to infant directed speech. This form of interaction occurs when the baby and caregiver focus on the same object at the same time, the baby can track the adult’s behavior, and one person can direct the attention of the other so as to enable reciprocal interaction. By 7-8 months, parents can direct a child’s gaze to an object and speak to them about it; by their first year, babies can direct a parent’s attention in a similar fashion. Engaging in this type of interaction promotes cognitive development in that it increases the infant’s ability to learn from others as well as making it more likely that the child’s vocabulary will be greater, first words will be spoken sooner, and expression and reception of linguistic communication will be enhanced by age 3
No comments:
Post a Comment